DeKalb defense clamps down on Belvidere North to reach Dayton semifinals

DeKALB – Alex Streb drained a 3-pointer to cap the scoring in DeKalb’s 59-27 win over Belvidere North, triggering the running clock.

Thanks to a stifling DeKalb (7-4) over the last three quarters of Friday’s quarterfinal win the 97th annual Chuck Dayton Classic, Streb and the Barbs bench got a big chunk of playing time - though not as much as in the Barbs' 74-27 win over Bulls Prep in the opener.

“We haven’t played our best ball through the first nine games,” Sean Reynolds said. “Coming into the Chuck Dayton we wanted to take a step forward and raise our level of play. We did that here, and we definitely have to do that tonight.”

The Barbs face Lincoln-Way West in a semifinal later Friday.

Belvidere North (6-7) never led in the contest but kept things close early behind a couple of 3-pointers from Brayden Lewis. The Barbs took a 16-13 lead into the second but held the Blue Thunder to four points in the second quarter to take a 26-17 lead into the break.

DeKalb scored 15 of the first 17 points in the third quarter to push the lead to 41-19. Noah Rooney hit a layup to start the fourth for the Blue Thunder, but DeKalb scored 16 of the game’s final 18 points.

Sean Reynolds said it wasn’t just communication that was the key to the strong defensive effort – it was overcommunication.

“You have to always communicate, play physical and play hard,” Sean Reynolds said. “That’s really what we did.”

Davon Grant was the last DeKalb starter to score, hitting a free throw to cap his 11-point game, six-rebound performance with 3:11 in the third quarter. Justin O’Neal had the last field goal for a DeKalb starter a minute earlier as the icing on his seven-point game.

Marquise Bolden had 11 points and four rebounds in the win, and Sean Reynolds had nine points. Derrion Straughter had five boards off the bench, and Billy Miller led the backups with seven points.

“We got some other guys in and the level did not go down even an inch,” Mike Reynolds said. “That’s big on a day where you have two games.”

Mike Reynolds said clamping down Lewis, who exploded for 26 in the first round against Springfield Southeast, was a key to the defense after allowing him the early makes.

“We knew that wasn’t going to be a recipe for success,” Mike Reynolds said. “We didn’t want to be trading baskets. So we switched some defensive assignments, and Sean took him out for about three minutes, then [Jackson] Kees was able to do a no-help on him and pretty much take him help for another quarter. And by that time we stretched it out, which was good.”